BALANCING ACT TO RELEASE NEW SINGLE ‘CHESHIRE SMILE’ ON 28TH JULY
“[…] That in turn is gonna make them an incredibly exciting prospect and also allow them to connect with people in a deeper way, and potentially be the new generation’s favourite band”
Jack Saunders, Radio 1’s ‘Future Artists’
“Balancing Act feel like a breath of fresh air in a saturated genre, bringing something hugely exciting back to indie music”
The Mancunion
“It’s good to see the band’s first EP wasn’t a fluke”
Backseat Mafia
“Balancing Act are breathing new life into the genre and broadening the horizons of their own unique sound”
Dead Good Music
The latest offering from the London-based quartet, Balancing Act, sees them recollect the dark danceability of the noughties. Crediting influences such as Portishead and Massive Attack, ‘Cheshire Smile’ is backed by a pulsing pop-rock underlayer. The single is the next instalment of their series of collaborations with producer Richard Woodcraft (Radiohead, Paolo Nutini, The Last Shadow Puppets) and is opening an entirely new door in Balancing Act’s repertoire.
With their debut headline tour approaching this September, Balancing Act are making the moves necessary to capture their live energy on record. This intention was confirmed by Kai Roberts (vocals), who stated that:
“This song is a progression from the sound of ‘All Yours’. We love how the crowd reacts with this tempo and feel – it’s like we feed off each other on stage – it’s addictive.”
When discussing the track’s creation, Jackson Couzens (guitar) shared:
“After the initial inspiration for this song we made a bit of a retreat back up north to finish it off. We still have a writing space there that seems to hold some magic for us, it’s a bit secluded so we can really get lost in what we’re creating and it normally produces our best work. This is another song that found its true direction there before taking it back into the studio with Rich.”
Couzens expanded on the band’s deviation from familiar influences:
“You can always hear the rock element in our music because we were all brought up on that, but when it comes to making it feel fresh, we’ll turn to the likes of Trip Hop and Electronic music and try to blend that with what we make. There’s always something new to be found when you’re in unfamiliar musical territory, so we throw ourselves into whatever excites us.”
Balancing Act have sold out all of their headline shows so far, and they opened this half of the year with headlines at London’s Lower Third and Manchester’s YES Basement, as well as a Close Encounter Club show in Brixton. With X-ray Touring now on board, they’re preparing for next year’s festival season and their debut headline tour this September:
Weds 6th – London, Oslo (16+)
Thurs 7th – Manchester, Deaf Institute (14+)
Fri 8th – Bristol, Crofters Rights (18+)
Sat 9th – Birmingham, The Sunflower Lounge (18+)
Kai Roberts (vocals) and Jackson Couzens (guitar) first met in Manchester whilst working on separate projects. After packing up and moving to London, they joined forces with George Le Page (drums) and David Carpenter (bass), forming the now settled quartet. According to Kai, the next phase of Balancing Act prioritises “pushing the boundaries on what we can achieve as a band”, a mantra that continues to fuel their next steps.
Listen to ‘Cheshire Smile’ here
Artwork by Match Sienkiewicz
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